Random Floppy Access

[Beeker]

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif Hey, has anyone ever seen a computer where the floppy drive just seems to be randomly accessed? The computer can be in use or just sitting there idling and all of sudden, the floppy disc will be accessed. No command given, but the system will try to read from the A: drive. It lasts for a few seconds, then stops and will then repeat in a few minutes or so.

Does anybody know why? Does anybody know how to MAKE IT STOP????
Thanks for your help, comments, suggestions

------------------

Beeker
----------------------
I can fix that, but I'm gonna need some duct tape, an old car battery and a butter knife.

[This message has been edited by Beeker (edited 05-02-2001).]

[Reid]

Windows Annoyances (http://www.annoyances.org/cgi-bin/ce-showtopic/005_037) has some suggestions.

------------------
reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[Beeker]

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Hey, thanks much! What great links you have! I'm going to revisit the customer and try out the suggestions. There were some strong suspects in the list of possibles.

------------------


Beeker
----------------------
I can fix that, but I'm gonna need some duct tape, an old car battery and a butter knife.

[Reid]

If the computer is running Windows 98, run msconfig and click the Startup tab. You can try disabling any suspect items there. The link I provided might say that, but the links were slow coming up today. It is generally a good idea to use Registry editing as a last resort, and save a backup before you do.

------------------
reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[This message has been edited by Reid (edited 05-03-2001).]

[Beeker]

Reid, just thought I'd let you know that the link did contain the answer. It seems that this person was saving her work to several different floppies throughout the day. Clearing the Documents History solved the problem. I installed TweakUI and set the Paranoia feature to clear the list whenever she reboots. She may still have a problem as the list collects throughout the day though. I showed her how to remove individual files from the list. As long as she continues to save files this way, I'm not sure that there is a more permanent solution. I'll take any suggestions however.

------------------


Beeker
----------------------
I can fix that, but I'm gonna need some duct tape, an old car battery and a butter knife.

[jmatt]

Stop Windows from accessing
the floppy drive

Q My computer frequently accesses the floppy drive when there is no reason for it to do so. Do you know how 1 can stop this from happening?

A Unfortunately , there's no one cause or cure for this common annoyance . But here are a few potential remedies .
1. At some point, you may have told Windows to check for something drivers or on the A: drive - and never told it to stop looking . Correcting this is easy : the next time Windows accesses your Windows gives me an error message , floppy drive , pop a disk into the drive . Double-click the icon for drive A: then close the window , double-click on the C: icon , remove the floppy disk.
2. Your anti-virus software may be configured to scan drive A: automatically, whether there is a disk in the drive or not . To check Norton AntiVirus , for example, click the Options button . On the Scanner tab , click the Advanced button . Uncheck All removable drives .
Click OK twice .
3. Something on your recent documents list makes Windows check A:. Don't bother to track down the perpetrator - just wipe out everything in that folder ( you won't lose any data ). To do this , right-click the taskbar , select Properties , click the StartMenu Programs tab , click Clear in the Documents menu box , and then click OK .
4. Desktop shortcuts pointing to a file or program on A: can also trigger this pointless access . The fix: select Desktop in Windows Explorer , and select Start-Find-Files or Folders . In the Named field, enter *.Ink, *.pif
Then, for the Containing Text field , enter a: and click Find Now . Delete all of the shortcuts you find , or at least move them either off the Explorer Desktop or out of the Start menu .
5. If you use Microsoft Office97, the FindFast utility could be causing the problem . To find out , select Start-Settings-Control Panel , then double-click the FindFast icon . Once the applet is up , see whether drive A: is on the list of indexes . If it is , highlight it and-select Index-Delete Index . Click OK twice , and then close FindFast and the Control Panel .

------------------------------------

Also at , http://www.annoyances.org/cgi-bin/ce-showtopic/005_037